This week is International Development Week and we began on Tuesday with a presentation from WUSC Leave For Change, an organization that facilitates faculty and staff engaging in short-term overseas projects. The IDW Faculty Panel on Wednesday was incredibly inspiring. Three of the four faculty we have engaged in international field school / virtual exchanges projects provided engaging insights into their projects. The variety and breadth of projects will hopefully inspire others a the College to take the leap into Virtual Exchange. It feels like, despite current  travel restrictions, or perhaps in part because of, new energy has been breathed into international projects and opportunities. A positive outcome of the pandemic is the resulting creativity and innovation as many of us seek ways to maintain existing and build new international and intercultural networks.

Our Belgium Exchange students officially began their internship this week. I didn’t realize the level of complexity involved in their gaining access to certain college systems and am once again very appreciative of the support we have within our Centre. They observed their first class today. In talking with them afterwards, asking them to reflect on their first impressions, they were struck by how different instructor / student interaction is here, compared with their experiences in Belgium. They explained that, although their instructors would encourage students to be active participants and to ask questions,, students tended to be reluctant to do so. They believed this stems from conceptions of hierarchy and also student beliefs that to be the one who asks questions and is more active, is somehow “shameful” (direct quote). This is important learning for faculty as we strive to better understand the prior experiences of our international students, as we support their learning in a new environment. I asked the Belgium students to consider the implications of what they are learning here as budding instructors and how they may or may not be able to apply certain ideas / approaches in their contexts at home. I will be working with the students later this term to offer an opportunity for conversation with faculty to explore in more detail, different conceptions of the teacher / student relationship across cultures.

I continued to work on ideas for a college intercultural mission / vision. Another useful resource is UBC’s Intercultural Understanding Strategic Plan, noting that the context of UBC is very different to our college. It was super helpful to discuss what I’ve put together so far and to get a different perspective – sociocultural theory in action.

Finally, an already good week turned into a fabulous one with the announcement today that the College will be receiving a significant boost of funding to ensure the dream of having college residences will become a reality. Given that I heard this week that increasing numbers of local students are now sleeping in their cars, this announcement is timely. We cannot support student success if their basic human needs like adequate shelter are not being met. This is a thrilling time to be at the college; most certainly an historic time for the institution.